Documentary on displaced people in Borno premieres in Abuja

A documentary on the struggles of displaced communities in Borno State premiered at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja. 

The documentary, titled HOPE, was produced by FACTSTORY, a subsidiary agency of the global French newswire service, Agence France-Presse (AFP), with the financial support of the European Union (EU). 

It was shot between December 2020 and May 2021 in Borno State and highlights some interventions of the European Union to support lives and livelihoods in the insurgency-ravaged areas of the state. 

It tracks the steps of an 11-year-old girl, Mariam Ibrahim, from Bama, whose father was killed when the town was overran by the insurgents in 2014. 

It also features Muhammad Bello, a former fisherman from Baga, who fled with his family to Zabarmari, a dozen kilometres north of Maiduguri, due to heavy fighting in his hometown in 2015.

The Head of EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Samuela Isopi, said the documentary was to create awareness amongst the European and Nigerian populations on the impact of the conflict and humanitarian crisis affecting the Borno people.

“The film HOPE tells us about the challenges that the residents of the northeast faced in their daily lives of which their sources of income were destroyed by the insurgency.

“A decade after the start of the insurgency in the northeast of Nigeria, the region is still suffering from the loss of lives and property, food insecurity and a very poor standard of living,” she said.

The envoy said EU’s intervention programmes have restored hopes to millions of people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno. 

She said the EU had committed about €130 million in the last four years to the efforts of the Borno State government to rebuild and rehabilitate affected communities. 

According to her, this funding support alone has contributed to the restoration of basic services and livelihoods which cut across health and nutrition, agriculture and livelihood, water and sanitation, social protection, education, conflict mitigation and cohesion among displaced populations and their host communities.

Dogo Shettima, Special Assistant to Governor of Borno State on Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, said about one million displaced people have been resettled with supports from the EU and other partners.